If you’re in the market for employee health wellness programs – and who isn’t, after the passage of the recent healthcare bill – it’s important to maximize return on your investment while the economic recovery picks up steam.

It’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Many employee wellness benefit programs sound appealing, touting physiological screening for likelihood of disability, behavior modification, and diet and exercise as cornerstones, but there are two key questions to ask:

1. How much will I have to bribe my employees to participate?
2. Will this employee wellness program target the highest costs?

The answer to both may surprise you. Human nature is working against traditional employee health and wellness program efficacy:

• Only 4% of smokers participate in cessation programs.
• Just 5% of obese employees participate in weight management programs.
• Fewer than 10% of chronic disease sufferers participate in programs designed to alleviate their symptoms.

And traditional wellness programs don’t target the highest-cost employee maladies: stress and depression. Depression is six times costlier than obesity. Stress is nearly five times as costly as smoking.

Traditional employee health and wellness programs largely shoot for the wrong target. And miss.

So it’s time to go non-traditional. Get out of the wellness rut. Do something that’s designed to alleviate stress and prevent depression.

Embrace wellness travel.

Implement Vacation Wellness.

Incorporate it into your work culture.

Vacations are good for productivity. Vacations reduce stress. Vacationers are two to three times less likely to suffer from depression. Vacationers stay at their jobs longer. Vacationers suffer up to 53% fewer heart attacks. Vacationers live longer.

So think outside of the wellness box. In fact, think outside of the country. Get your employees’ toes in the sand, or get them on a wellness vacation.

We’re confident you won’t have to bribe them to participate in your Vacation Wellness employee benefit plan!